Disclaimer: Don't own InuYasha or any other related stuff but I do own all other original characters that appear in my story.

Notes: Kagome, Sango, Miroku, and Shippo do not appear in this story. Also, in my story Kouga is the one who released InuYasha from the tree, not Kagome.

Chapter One: Nightmare Dreams

Dream Sequence:

"No, stay away, leave me alone!",the small boy yelled as he ran as fast as his little feet would allow.

"You can't escape little one, just give up now and save yourself the trouble, "said one of the two figures who were chasing him.

"Time to go bye-bye, kid," the second figure said, leaping forward and scooping him off of his feet.

"No, put me down, let me go! No, NO, NOOOO!"

End Sequence

"NOOO, put me down!" InuYasha yelled in his sleep as he thrashed about.

"InuYasha, wake up!"

The familiar voice brought him back to his senses as he awakened covered in sweat.

"It was the dream again wasn't it?" The voice spoke again.

InuYasha wiped the sweat from his face as he looked to see his good friend, Kouga, standing above him.

"Yeah, it was…" he replied.

"Here, drink some of this. Maybe it'll help." His friend ordered, handing him a flask of water.

He took the flask from Kouga but instead of drinking from it like he was told, he poured its contents over his head in an attempt to relax his body.

"Now why'd you go and do that?! Now I have to go and get more!" the wolf prince complained as he watched InuYasha waste the water.

"Relax, I'll go out and get more in the morning. I'm going back to sleep, you should do the same. I can't believe you got up in the middle of the night just to go and get some water."

"In case you haven't noticed, InuYasha, it's already past noon."

InuYasha was so exhausted and preoccupied with the episode he just experienced that he hadn't noticed the sun shining high in the sky or felt the sun's golden rays that were beating down on his water drenched body.

"Damn…" he cursed himself for sleeping so late into the day.

"No more sleeping. Get your lazy ass up and get dressed. I'm gonna go get more water. We'll leave as soon as I get back so be ready," Kouga declared with a smile as he turned and raced to the river.

InuYasha too smiled as he watched his friend run off. His smile quickly turned to a frown however, as he let his mind wander back to the dream that he seemed to have more and more frequently as of late and what frustrated him even more about the situation was the fact that he didn't know what the dream meant.

He dismissed the dream from his thoughts a she stood and shook of what remained of the water that hadn't already dried in the sun and began to dress himself in his fire rat kimono. By the time he was done, Kouga had returned with the water.

"You ready, sleeping beauty?" Kouga asked with a grin.

InuYasha chuckled and replied, "yeah, I'm ready you big jerk."

The two gathered their belongings and were soon on their way.

"We should reach the village in a few hours," said Kouga to InuYasha.

"…" InuYasha didn't reply.

"Earh to InuYasha, hey!"

"Huh? Oh, sorry." InuYasha was lost in thought.

"Man, those dreams are really taking a toll on you, huh? I'll tell you what, we'll stay in the village for about a week or so until you regain some of your strength. Then we'll look into putting a stop to those dreams once and for all, how does that sound, huh?"

"You're a good friend, you know, except for the fleas," InuYasha smiled as he taunted his best friend.

"What'd you say mutt?"

"You heard me, you mangy wolf!"

The two laughed and chased after each other. It was the first time in a long while that Kouga had seen his friend smile and be playful. He wished for InuYasha to be like this all the time but knew this would never be so long as he was haunted by those terrible dreams. He swore to himself that he would help his friend and get rid of the nightmares, no matter the cost.

The two of them were having so much fun that they hadn't noticed that they had ran all the way to Kouga's village. When they finally realized, each put his arm around the other's shoulder and they laughed joyously as they entered the gates of the village.

Meanwhile:

A dark figure sat on his throne and gazed curiously through one of three large crystal mirrors that lined his throne room. Through his mirrors he could see any and everything that went on across the land but something, or rather someone in particular caught his attention.

"I've finally found you, InuYasha." He said, watching InuYasha and Kouga through the mirror.

"I've waited so long, InuYasha. The time has finally come.", the figure said to himself.

"Enjoy things while you can, little one, for soon neither you nor your loved ones will have anything to smile about."

Devilishly delicious, yes? Lol. I know its kinda short, sorry. FEED BACK PLEASE!!! And if you have criticism, I'll accept it if and only if it's constructive. Thanks for reading, hope you enjoyed. Next chapter expected in another day or two.